ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A new charge is coming to power bills for customers with the Orlando Utilities Commission, though usage rates are also expected to go down.<\/p>\n
In a release<\/a>, OUC officials said that the plan \u2014 dubbed \u201cDemandLevel\u201d \u2014 takes into account how and when customers use the most energy. <\/p>\n \u201cDemandLevel helps manage \u2018high-demand moments,\u2019 or periods when lots of electricity is being used at the same time,\u201d the release reads. \u201cThe new pricing structure is intended to educate and help customers stagger their energy use, when possible, to reduce these peaks \u2014 and also support delaying future generation needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Officials also outlined what customers can expect to change under the new plan, with monthly bills now reflecting the two ways that customers use electricity:<\/p>\n Consumption (Total Monthly Energy Use) \u2014 OUC is reducing customers\u2019 consumption rates by 12.5% per kilowatt-hour, which is expected to make the energy used each month more affordable.<\/p>\n Peak Demand (Highest 15-Minute Usage in the Previous Month) \u2014 A new charge will be added that reflects a customer\u2019s peak demand.<\/p>\n This will appear on customers\u2019 bills as a \u201cDemandLevel\u201d charge, with a tier of 1, 2, or 3. Tiers are determined by the highest level of energy used in any 15-minute window during the previous bill cycle.<\/p>\n OUC officials added that the lower electric rate is expected to offest most of the new DemandLevel charge, depending on each individual customer\u2019s usage patterns.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause your tier level resets each month, we encourage you to use OUC\u2019s new tools<\/a> to help track, stagger and lower your energy peak \u2014 and reach the lowest possible tier for your home or business,\u201d the release concludes.<\/p>\n According to the firm, most customers will see these changes starting with the November 2026 bill, which will be based on peak demand during the prior month: October.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, OUC also provided a list of tips to help customers save money:<\/p>\n Stagger Appliance Use:\u00a0For example, wait to start the clothes dryer until the oven or pool pump is off.<\/p>\n Program Your Thermostat:\u00a0Minimize cooling costs when you\u2019re away and ensure maximum comfort on your return.<\/p>\n Get Energy-Efficient Upgrades:\u00a0OUC has\u00a0several rebates<\/a>\u00a0available to help offset the costs of upgrades.Schedule an Audit<\/a>: An OUC conservation specialist will help you identify ways to reduce your consumption.\u00a0<\/p>\n Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 A new charge is coming to power bills for customers with the Orlando Utilities Commission,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":399880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2159,1335,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-399879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-money","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=399879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/399879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/399880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=399879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=399879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=399879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}